Brian Flores, former head-coach of the Miami Dolphins, is suing three NFL teams, the Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos, and New York Giants on the basis of systematic racism and discriminatory hiring practices. Additionally, Flores alleges after he was hired in 2019 Dolphins owner, Stephen Rose offered him a $100k bonus for every game he tanked (purposefully lost) in order to secure Miami a higher draft pick. The Dolphins fired Flores on January 10th despite leading Miami to their first back to back winning seasons since 2003. 

Flores says that the Denver Broncos and New York Giants did not comply with the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires teams to hold an in- person interview with at least one external minority candidate for any open general manager or head-coach position. Flores spoke with the Giants over zoom on January 18th prior to the Giants hiring Joe Schoen as their new GM on the 23rd. He said the next day Schoen finalized his interview date for January 27th. Just hours after scheduling the interview, Flores alleges he received a series of texts from New England Patriots head-coach Bill Belichick, whom Flores worked under for 10 year, which states that he had from, “Buffalo and NYG that you are their guy.”

Flores then asked Belichick to clarify who the text was intended for which he responded with, “Sorry — I f—-ed this up. I double checked and misread the text. I think they are naming Brian Daboll. I’m sorry about that.”

According to Flores, Bill Belichick influenced the Giants decision- making and that his interview with the Giants was a pretense just to comply with the Rooney Rule. Additionally, Flores alleges that when he interviewed with the Denver Broncos for their head-coaching job in 2019, it was a similar situation. According to Flores, then-Denver GM John Elway and associates arrived to the meeting an hour late and hungover, indicating they had been heavily drinking the night before.

Most recently, Flores’ lawyers have stated that the Houston Texans elected to name Lovie Smith over Brian Flores as their next head coach because of the lawsuit. The 3 teams involved in the lawsuit have denied the accusations of the 58 page lawsuit. The Texans general-manager Nick Caserio says Brian Flores’ lawsuit did not affect their decision making stating, “There were conversations with Brian after [the lawsuit] took place, so it really didn’t affect out process at all,”

Sources: ESPN.com and CBSSports.com